(VOD Photos from earlier bankruptcy protest at DIA by DAREA and other groups; VOD editor unable to attend Dec. 10 due to totaled car.)

Outside DIA Nov. 19, 2015

I wanted to share with you what happened last night at the “Detroit Bankruptcy: One Year Later” event at Wayne State University’s Community Arts Auditorium.

Outside the event DAREA (Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association) and Moratorium Now protested and spoke the truth into the warm night air. The student group of the National Lawyers Guild had bitingly funny carnival games about the bankruptcy like “guess the quote” from Orr etc. as you walked into the building.

The program started with Inside Out, a literary program for youth, who did a questionable spoken word poem about the bankruptcy – it was disturbing to see children indoctrinated that the bankruptcy is giving Detroit new beginning and its just “complicated”. As Bill said, Hitler did that to children too.

DIA, Nov. 19, 2015

I know they are making teens at the local EAA school do projects on the developer Richard Baron’s Detroit Future City gentrification plan. These racist psychopaths probably think its funny. There was the media partnership members in what looked like a police line-up, which was introduced by a woman from the Knight Foundation and a guy from the Ford Foundation, showing off all those who are down with it in the second tier media.

Outside DIA Nov. 19 protesters harassed wealthy attendees.

The event was hosted by Stephen Henderson and some white TV lady. Stephen Henderson’s Pulitzer for his bankruptcy coverage taught me that a Pulitzer is the prize from the greedy pigs for spinning it the way they want. Snyder came out, booed onto the stage, talking about how emergency management was a last resort, shared sacrifice of pensioners, the income stabilization fund for the pensioners is so successful, how he had been working on Detroit for a few years blah blah blah crap.

Attendees had to be escorted in to DIA event, past children of retirees.

Many brave people stood up, interrupted and spoke to the real issues like poisoning the children of Flint and those of us who were less brave heckled, booed and hissed from our seats. He was then booed as he walked off the stage. Shirley Lightsey who heads up the phony DRCEA, allegedly representing pensioners but which sold them out, spoke to how she was not going to say too much because of the audience.

The lady from Michigan Public Radio was asked if water rates would go up with that bullshit Great Lakes Water Authority. The audience answered yes. Then came Judge Rhodes who seemed to say in a convoluted way (as usual with the little man) that they were going to come after the pensions again and how municipal bankruptcy is something so so good for cities.

DIA protest Nov. 19, 2015.

Someone shouted that he was going to make millions off bankrupting Puerto Rico. A man in the VIP section laughed and so did Rhodes. It is so openly a farce at this point. People are heckling and then one lionhearted young man stands up and won’t shut up and says how emergency management is for only black cities, 100,000 people have lost their homes and starts to chant “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”

Dennis W. Archer runs in with wife Trudy skulking behind him Nov. 19.

We all started to clap and chant. The police go after him. Judge Rhodes does his signature run away – like he did when Pastor Bill yelled out about Jones Day and Bank of America at the bankruptcy trial and when a protester serenaded him at the DIA entrance. More of us should have stood up and spoken out. I regret I just heckled.

Duggan was up next and I think I saw that jackal Nolan Finley lurking behind the curtain. But after all the moderators from the pig’s press had admonished the audience for their bad behavior as if we were children instead of adults telling the truth, Stephen and white lady threatened to stop the event. And they did. Perhaps Nolan and Mike sensed they were about to be publicly shamed and they were scared.

At the end of the day, the Knight Foundation and the Ford Foundation got to see their work dissolve while it was being livestreamed. This dog and pony show about the “success” of municipal bankruptcy (in my opinion, RICO) was a disaster for them. WDET and their bullshit media bankruptcy partnership was shamed beyond recognition. The young people there were phenomenal and it is so heartening to see them stand up and speak out.

As Lory said as we left, we shut it down.

Protests Halt Forum With Detroit Bankruptcy Judge

DETROIT–Detroit protesters shut down a public forum meant to celebrate the city’s progress since it emerged from bankruptcy protection exactly one year ago, showing that many residents are still raw over the deep cuts made to their to health-care benefits and monthly pension checks.

Wall Street Journal photo outside WSU event Dec. 10, 2015.

Organizers behind “Detroit Bankruptcy: One Year Later,” held Wednesday evening at Wayne State University, ended the program in the middle of a segment with former bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes, who presided over the city’s historic case. Mayor Mike Duggan, who had been scheduled to speak, didn’t get to take the stage.

As part of the bankruptcy process, Judge Rhodes ruled that city’s money-saving plan, which cut $7 billion in debt, is fair. His decision brought to a close the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Judge Rhodes was booed throughout his interview during the forum; so was Gov. Rick Snyder. The Detroit News reported that protesters were angry over the pension cuts, water shutoffs and the control of city’s leadership during the financial crisis.

Before being cut off by the forum’s organizers, Judge Rhodes did get a minute to clarify controversial statements from an earlier interview in which he said that bondholders fared worse than the city workers with pension cuts. (He said his assessment didn’t factor in the health-care cuts, just pension cuts.)

Wealthy white male rushes past protesters Nov. 19.

“If you’ll give me just a second here, I’m going to agree with those of you in the audience…who are concerned that we contracted democracy in the city of Detroit,” Judge Rhodes said above shouting from the audience.

Earlier in the night, moderator and local journalist Stephen Henderson scolded the disruptive audience, saying “this is not Detroit behavior.”

Detroit News reporter Christine Ferretti, who covered the event, wrote about the final tense minutes of the forum on Twitter.

When he cleared Detroit to leave bankruptcy, Judge Rhodes urged those who fought the changes to try to move past their anger and help city leaders execute a $1.4 billion revitalization.

Outside DIA Nov. 19, 2015.

The 680,000-resident city filed for bankruptcy on July 18, 2013, to try to negotiate cuts to $18 billion in debt, blaming tax revenue that fell after the real-estate crash and the city’s population decline.

Throughout the case, Detroit leaders fought pressure from some Wall Street creditors and others to sell the city’s valuable art collection to repay a greater portion of the city’s debt. Federal mediators helped negotiate a deal to use more than $800 million from private foundations and the state of Michigan to avoid that sale and make the cuts to city’s worker pensions less severe.

City leaders eventually came up with a plan that called for the $1.4 billion reinvestment in removing blighted buildings and boosting police and fire services in the city.

The bankruptcy never should have happened! It was all contrived! The kick off was our leaders accepting the consent agreement. They should have demanded Gov Sniper give the city the millions of dollars due from the profit sharing. Also, Atty General Bill Shitty should have did his job and upheld the Michigan Constitution and protected the retirees pension. Shame on them (politicians )! Revolution time for 99%!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Comment moderation is enabled. Your comment may take some time to appear.

Search for:

VOD WELCOMES NEW SUBMISSIONS!

If you want to be published on VOD, please submit your articles, etc. to diane_bukowski@hotmail.com.
Call 313-825-6126 to alert us.

DONATE TO VOD

VOD's previous Go Fund Me donation button is not functional anymore. But put "Donate to VOD" in the search engine and, a post will come up with the link to our Go Fund Me page, which is still working. Thank you for your support!